Ellis Cork was born in Bomaderry, NSW. He enlisted in the 31st Battalion of the A.I.F in December 1915, when he was 18 years old. In camp awaiting embarkation for active service, Ellis wrote to his young cousin, Grace. He expressed his excitement about signing up, but

SILENT WEAPONS OF WAR My research for this story began amid the startling news of the chemical attack on the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, and of chemical weapons being used in Syria. I knew about mustard gas in WWI, because my

FLORAL MEMENTOES OF WAR The Gallipoli Rose (Cistus salvifolius) was the Australian War Memorial’s first commemorative plant. It grew on the bloody battlefields of Gallipoli. The sight of the flowers lifted the spirits of the Anzacs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps), who brought home the seeds.